Baltimore Ravens tale of two QBs: Lamar Jackson and Robert Griffin III

Lamar Jackson, 2019 Analysis, Baltimore Ravens

Jackson has started his sophomore year lighting up the Miami Dolphins defense for 324 yards on an 85% completion rate, with 5 touchdowns and a perfect passer rating. The most impressive part of his Week 1 performance though … three rushes for six yards. He ended his rookie year with three of his last four games having at least either 50 yards rushing or 10 carries, typical of a quarterback without the arm talent to contribute consistently at the NFL level.

Jackson has now shown he is fully capable of unlocking the potential behind this Baltimore Ravens offense, letting Hollywood Brown show his speed and feeding his tight ends play after play. This is no fluke either. Jackson has shown game after game throughout this preseason he is focused on using pocket awareness over speed to avoid the pass rush and can keep his eyes downfield while avoiding the rush.

Many members of the Baltimore Ravens coaching staff applauded Jackson’s “significant improvements” during camp, but no one truly knew what that meant until he came out during the preseason. Lamar was a new passer, looking cool and collected in the pocket and aware of the pressure around him. When he does encounter pressure, he is able to sense where it is and move to a clean area of the pocket and reset for a good throw.

While making reads down the field, Jackson kept his eyes up and never looked down to find the pass rush. He stood tall and looked confident in the pocket and took what was given to him. A lot of his production came from short crossing routes and concepts to the outside with flats and speed-outs. He also identified blown coverages down the field, hitting Hollywood Brown for an 83-yard touchdown, 39 of which were through the air.

Mechanically, Jackson is very similar to Michael Vick. He uses proper footwork and hip rotation on his throwing motion but does not turn through his upper body the same way other quarterbacks do. He is very relaxed and uses his upper body to “flick” the ball to the target.

Jackson is also similar to Vick in that he doesn’t use much hip rotation, so it will be worth watching to see if he can develop this important part of his mechanics for tight-window throws on post, corner and seam routes.

Much of the Baltimore Ravens playbook this past Sunday were simple reads with simple passes into vulnerable areas of the field, which included crossing routes, and deep bombs against a weak Dolphins defense. The Baltimore Ravens will be going against the Arizona Cardinals this next week so it may be the same situation, but keep an eye on Jackson’s hip rotation for any throws into tight windows.